Press Releases 2008

"BUILDING ISLAM IN DETROIT"
A look at Muslim life in America

July 21, 2008                                   (Hindi)  (Urdu)

New Delhi - U.S. Embassy Chargé d'Affaires Steven J. White and Jamia Millia Islamia Vice Chancellor Mushirul Hasan today inaugurated a multimedia exhibition depicting Muslim life in America. 

The exhibition at the University's FTK Centre for Information Technology is entitled "Building Islam in Detroit: Foundations/Forms/Futures," and depicts public and private spaces built by Muslims in Detroit, Michigan -- their mosques, homes, schools, and neighborhoods.  Assembled by University of Michigan faculty and graduate students, the exhibit looks at Muslim life in America through the diversity of the architecture the community has constructed since first immigrating to Detroit in the 1890s. 

Chargé White said the exhibit shows how "immigrants from many parts of the globe have brought their Islamic faith and culture to Detroit, and how they have adapted to their new home and changed the city around them." He noted that there are today approximately 150,000 Muslims in Detroit, and more than 50 mosques.

The exhibition, sponsored in India by the U.S. Embassy, has already toured the United States, Ethiopia and Pakistan. Following stops in Patna and New Delhi, it will continue on to Mumbai, Aurangabad, Trivandrum and Calicut. 

The exhibition is open for public viewing from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., July 22-25 at FTK Centre for Information Technology (opposite Ansari auditorium), Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi 110025.